Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball is the sport that MSU fans are most often, most proud of. Unfortunately, the past two seasons have not lived up to Bulldog baseball tradition. In 2007,the Miss. State finished the season with a 38-22 overall and 15-13 SEC record.
In 2008 the Bulldogs ended the year with 23-33 overall and 9-21 SEC record. Three Baseball Bulldogs outfielder Brent Brownlee, pitcher Shawn Marquardt,and pitcher Forrest Moore were named to the 2007-08 SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll.
The Mississippi State baseball team begins its 2009 campaign under the talented new head coach John Cohen. If you haven't been out to a game at MSU's Polk-Dement Stadium - you are missing out. The stadium is often listed among the top college baseball stadiums in America. This is why the NCAA picked Starkville (and Polk-Dement Stadium) to host a super-regional in 2007. The stadium is best known for its "Left Field Lounge" where fans gather beyond the left field wall and "tailgate."
Last Season's Discussion:
The 2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball season is the 118th season of play for the college team. Their head coach, Ron Polk, one of the (Best All-Time SEC Baseball Coaches) is in his 29th season of captaining the team. The season opens for the Bulldogs with a three game road series against first-time competition North Florida in Jacksonville on the 22nd through 24th of February.
MSU batter watches baseball cross the plate.
Thanks to rogersmith at flickr.com for the picture .
The Bulldogs will play a total of 56 games in the 2008 season with 22 of those games against 2007 NCAA Tournament and 31-game series of contests which take place at Dudley Noble Field.
Another first time foe, Air Force, will be hosted by the team during a three-game series and at the Cadence Bank Challenge the team will be up against Baylor, the Big 12 Conference player. They will end an early-game streak of home games with the SEC conference on March 14th through the 16th with a three-game tournament against long time rivals Ole Miss.
An exciting development for the team is the selection of two of their games to be broadcast live by SEC's Regional Sports Network (RSN). This broadcast is part of a television series played on Fox Sports Net South as a part of the SEC's game of the week. The two Mississippi State Bulldog baseball games that were selected are the May 10th game against LSU and May 17th season-ending match-up with Arkansas.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball schedule is chalked full of tough games against excellent competition including 8 teams which advanced to the 2007 NCAA Tournament and three which advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals.
The lineup also includes Arkansas-Little Rock, South Alabama, Memphis, and SEC rivals Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt which will all be home games played at Dudley Noble Field. The Super Weekend begins March 28th and spans for three games until March 30th where the team plays Georgia. On April 15th the guys will take on Ole Miss at Trustmark Park in 2008 and participate in the second annual Governor's Cup.
MSU's Dudy Noble Field .
Thanks to rogersmith at flickr.com for the picture .
The team has 20 returning lettermen players from last season. One of the players includes Brandon Turner, of Cleveland Tennessee, who was an All-American second baseman in only his sophomore year. Turner had a batting average of .399 that was one of the highest, second highest in fact, in the Southeastern Conference for 2007.
In traditional fashion the 2007 the team started homecoming week with the annual Maroon/White game at Dudley Noble Field where the rookie players challenge the veterans in an 11 inning game. In this game all 18 of the primary pitchers will take a turn at the mound in order to show off their talents to the adoring fans.
Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball has terrific fan support. In fact, they were 3rd in the Nation last year (behind fellow SEC schools -- Arkansas and LSU).
Unfortunately, the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team will have a down year in 2007-2008. In fact, they look to finish dead last in the SEC. But, under Ron Polk, they'll be back! After, all, MSU is one of the Best All-Time SEC Baseball Programs.
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